Antonis Christeas, Greek basketball player (AEK Athens) and coach, died he was 74.

Antonis Christeas  was a Greek professional basketball player of the 1950s and 1960s era.

(1 February 1937 – 9 October 2011)


He was a key member of the Panellinios and won 2 Greek championships (1955, 1957). He also played for AEK Athens and won 6 Greek championships (1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970). He also won the European Cup Winners' Cup on April 4, 1968. In between playing with Panellinios and AEK he also played for Triton.
Christeas was also a key member of the Greek national basketball team and he finished his career with the national team with 30 caps, in which he scored a total of 398 points. He was coach and assistant coach of the youth Greek national teams for many years winning a lot of medals.


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Rob Buckman, British-born Canadian oncologist and comedian, died he was 63.

Robert Alexander Amiel "Rob" Buckman was a British-Canadian doctor of medicine, comedian and author, and president of the Humanist Association of Canada. He first appeared in a Cambridge University Footlights Revue in 1968, and subsequently presented several television and radio programmes about medicine, as well as appearing on comedy programmes such as Just a Minute. He was also the author of many popular books on medicine.^[1]

(August 22, 1948 – October 9, 2011) 

Broadcasting and comedy

Buckman attended University College School and graduated in medicine from St. John's College, Cambridge in 1972. He continued his medical training at the Royal Marsden Hospital and University College Hospital, London, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Buckman was a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4 during the 1970s and 1980s, both on panel shows, and fronting one-off programmes on scientific topics. He contributed scripts to the sitcom Doctor on the Go, based on the Richard Gordon books, and also acted in the Pink Medicine Show comedy show. He also was one of the performers and writers of the first Secret Policeman's Ball fundraiser in 1979, with Billy Connolly, John Cleese and Eleanor Bron.
Rob Buckman was more distinguished as a popular science presenter and appeared on the programme Don't Ask Me in the 1970s, and then the medical programme Where There's Life with Miriam Stoppard for its first three series from 1981. He continued this career in Canada where he contributed to TV Ontario programmes such as Your Health and the CTV medical show Balance as well as frequent guest appearances on The Dini Petty Show. His television series Magic or Medicine? investigated alternative medicine and won a Gemini award, while Human Wildlife covered microbes in the domestic environment.
He was a member of the Atheists team on CBC Test the Nation: IQ broadcast live on January 24, 2010.^[2]

Writings in popular medicine

Besides tie-ins to his TV series, Buckman authored several books of medical humour, such as Out of Practice (1978), Jogging from Memory: or letters to Sigmund Freud (1980), and The Buckman Treatment; or a doctor's tour in North America (1989). Later, as Robert Buckman, he contributed as author or co-author to a series of What You Really Need to Know About... books on common medical conditions, including cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, HRT, (all 1999), diabetes, stroke, and irritable bowel syndrome (2000). This was also the title of a long-running series of information films that he presented, and in many cases also scripted, for John Cleese's production company Video Arts.

Medical hiatus

In 1979, Buckman was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, an autoimmune disease which seriously affected his ability to work and was nearly fatal.^[3] His illness and recovery over the next couple of years was the subject of a 1981 UK TV documentary, Your Own Worst Enemy.^[4]

Later career

Buckman emigrated to Toronto, Canada, in 1985 and initially stayed with his cousin, journalist Barbara Amiel.^[5] In 1994 Buckman was named Canada’s Humanist of the Year. He was a signer of Humanist Manifesto 2000. He was president of the Humanist Association of Canada, and Chair of the Advisory Board on Bioethics of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. His main popular work in humanism was Can We Be Good Without God? Biology, Behaviour and the Need to Believe.
Buckman practised medical oncology at the Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto). He was a Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and held an adjunct professorship at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the U.S. state of Texas. He specialised in breast cancer and teaching communication skills in oncology.
In 2006 he began writing a weekly column in the Globe and Mail.

Death

Buckman died in his sleep while flying from London to Toronto on October 9, 2011. The cause is unknown.^[5] He was 63.

Selected publications

• Out of Practice, illustrations by Bill Tidy. Deutsch. 1978.
• Jogging from Memory. Heinemann. 1980.
• Medicine Balls Too. Papermac. 1988.
• I Don't Know What To Say - How To Help and Support Someone Who Is Dying 1988.
• Not dead yet: the unauthorized autobiography of Dr. Robert Buckman, complete with a map, many photographs & irritating footnotes. Doublesday. 1990.
• How To Break Bad News: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. Papermac. 1992.
• Magic or Medicine? An investigation of Healing and Healers (with Karl Sabbagh). Macmillan. 1993.
• Who can ever understand? : talking about your cancer with John Elsegood. 1995.
• What You Really Need to Know About Cancer:A Guide for Patients and their Families. Pan paperback. 1997.
• Robert Buckman. Anne Charlish. ed. What You Really Need to Know About Living With Depression. Lebhar-Friedman Books. 2000.
• Can We Be Good Without God?: Biology, Behavior, and the Need to Believe, Prometheus Books, 2002. ISBN 978-1-57392-974-5
• Human Wildlife: The Life That Lives on Us, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8018-7407-9
• Robert Buckman. With contributions by Dr Pamela Catton and staff of Princess Margaret Hospital. Cancer is a Word, Not a Sentence. Firefly Books. 2006.

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Bill Brown, American disc jockey (WCBS-FM), died he was 69.

Bill Brown was a long time air personality on the "oldies" radio station WCBS-FM in New York City.^[1] For most of his tenure there he aired at midday on the station. Brown also did many voiceovers on commercials airing on that and other New York City radio and television stations.

(August 15, 1942 – October 9, 2011) 

Early career

Brown was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 1942.^[2] Bill Brown began his radio career at various radio stations, including San Diego Top 40 station 136/KGB (now KLSD). Brown began working on WOR-FM (now WRKS) in 1966 doing various swing airshifts, eventually becoming full time. Initially, WOR-FM was a progressive rock station, but it evolved into an adult top 40/oldies station by 1968.

WCBS-FM

In 1969, WCBS-FM traded in their easy listening 'Young Sound' format for an album rock format similar to WABC-FM (later WPLJ) and WNEW-FM. Brown was on the original airstaff. Unfortunately, WCBS-FM did could not lay claim to sizable ratings in the New York City radio market while other stations such as WNEW-FM and WPLJ gained most of the rock n'roll radio audience. After research and several years of very low ratings WCBS-FM dropped the AOR format on July 7, 1972 at 6 AM and began playing Oldies from 1955 to then current product. Initially the station played both rock and roll songs and non rock songs of the 1950s and early 60's and only softer rock and pop hits of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Brown, along with the rest of the airstaff including Don K Reed (who was hired in January 1972) all stayed on with the Oldies format. Back then, it was common for airstaffs to stay on after format changes and not as common to lay off entire airstaffs. By the end of 1972, Brown was on the station weekdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Over the next few years most of the staffers T THE STATION would leave, but Brown and Don K Reed stayed on and were still part of the station in 1974. In 1975, Brown also became Program Director of WCBS-FM. For a few months he gave up his midday airshift. By the end of 1976, Brown was on from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays along with his Saturday morning shift. Under Brown, WCBS-FM moved away from easy listening and began to play more 60's rock. In 1978, Brown gave up his program director position but retained his airshifts. His shift was still 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturdays.
In 1984, when Ron Lundy arrived, Brown was moved to 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. while Ron moved to the 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. slot. Harry Harrison now aired from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. (previously he was on 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.). Bill's Saturday shift was then 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. every second week. Bill Brown also continued doing voiceovers for many commercials airing on WCBS FM and other radio stations. He celebrated 20 years in 1989, 25 years in 1994, and 30 years of service in 1999. In 1994, he officially dropped his Saturday morning airshift in honor of his many years of service at the station.
As airstaff occasionally came and went (though staffers stayed many years in most cases), Brown continued on consistently from noon to 3 p.m until 2005, when his airshift was moved to 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. With his years of service, age, and retirements of other well known staffers it was speculated that his retirement was not far off.

The switch to JACK

Bill Brown remained at WCBS-FM until June 3, 2005. Although ratings were decent and the station was profitable, CBS executives abruptly laid off the entire airstaff at 4 p.m. that day. Bill Brown was the last live air personality to sign off several minutes before 4. He came out of Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett and played Rescue Me by Fontella Bass. It was unclear whether or not he knew the end was happening from his last statement though he did not say a typical goodbye. His last words were "CBS FM 101.1 - did you ever get the urge to scream RESCUE ME!! Well I am beginning to feel that way right now...here's Fontella Bass." Other airstaffers definitely did not know the end was near as they said goodbye and stated when they would be back. The rest of the airstaff did not know what was happening until after Brown signed off and was at the meeting. In fact, half the airstaff did not even attend this meeting and were told through a conference call. These staffers could not be present because this meeting was only announced at 2 p.m. that day. At the 4 p.m. meeting, the staffers were laid off and informed that Oldies CBS-FM would be shut down immediately and replaced by an adult rock format of over 2000 songs called "JACK FM". From the 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. hour the station played 8 oldies with jingles in between, followed by 30 minutes of stunt montages. At 5 PM, the jockless JACK format signed on.
Brown then retired from CBS-FM after 33 years of playing oldies, as well as nearly 36 years of service. He is the only air personality to be with the station through their entire first run using live on air personalities. He did one of their first shifts the day WCBS FM adopted the rock format in 1969 and the very last live airshift doing oldies in 2005 ( Don K. Reed was the only other air-personality to have be with CBS FM during their entire run as an oldies station. He did the fourth shift on July 7 into July 8, 1972 and did the 4th to last live airshift from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. on June 5, 2005).
Brown died on October 9, 2011 at the age of 69.



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Pierangelo Garegnani, Italian economist and professor, died he was 81.

Pierangelo Garegnani was an Italian economist and professor of the University of Rome III.^[1]

(Milan, 1930 – Lavagna, 14th October 2011) 

He was the Director of the Fondazione Centro Piero Sraffa di Studi e Documenti at the Facoltá di Economia "Federico Caffè", and also the literary executor of the works, documents and papers left by the eminent Italian economist Piero Sraffa to the University of Cambridge's Wren Library. Professor Garegnani has been one of the leading theoretical critics of neoclassical economics. He has published several books and articles concerning the classical economic theory, from Ricardo to Sraffa, as an alternative theoretical foundation to analyse the capitalist economy. An account of his contributions was published by the Royal Economic Society.^[2]


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Robert Boochever, American federal judge, died he was 94.

Robert Boochever was a United States federal judge and a Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court.

(October 2, 1917 – October 9, 2011) 

Born in New York City, New York, Boochever received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1939, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society, and an LL.D. from Cornell Law School in 1941. He was a Captain in the United States Army Infantry during World War II, from 1941 to 1945. He was an assistant United States Attorney in Juneau, Alaska from 1946 to 1947, thereafter working in private practice in Juneau until 1972. He was a Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court from 1972 to 1980, serving as Chief Justice from 1975 to 1978.
On May 22, 1980, Boochever was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. vacated by Shirley Hufstedler. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 18, 1980, and received his commission the same day. He assumed senior status on June 10, 1986. He served in that capacity until his death, though he did not hear any new cases in the last few years of his life.
Boochever died on October 9, 2011, of natural causes at the age of 94 at his home in Pasadena, California.[1

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Ray Aranha, American actor (Dead Man Walking, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Married People), died he was 72.

Ray Aranha was an American actor, playwright, and stage director.

(May 1, 1939 – October 9, 2011) 

Career

Born in Miami, Florida, Aranha appeared in and written numerous stage productions. In 1974, he won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Playwright for My Sister, My Sister. Aranha also wrote and toured in a one-man show, I Am Black, and later appeared as "Jim Bono" in Fences.^[1]
In addition to stage work, Aranha appeared in various film and television roles. In 1990, he co-starred in the short-lived ABC series Married People. After the series was canceled in 1991, he appeared in yet another short-lived series The Heights in 1992. Aranha has since had roles in Are You Afraid of the Dark?, New York Undercover, and Law & Order, and has roles in Dead Man Walking (1995), Deconstructing Harry (1997), and Maid in Manhattan (2002).

Death

On October 9, 2011, Aranha died at the age of 72.^[2]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	A Stranger Is Watching	Cop in Bathroom
1987	Five Corners	Arthur
1990 to 1991	Married People	Nick Williams	18 episodes
1991	City of Hope	Errol
1992	The Heights	Mr. Mike	12 episodes
1994	Drop Squad	Bruford Jamison, Sr
1993	American Playhouse	Reverend Foy	Episode: "Hallelujah"
1994	Lifestories: Families in Crisis	Victor	Episode: "POWER: The Eddie Matos Story"
1994 to 1997	New York Undercover	Jamell Johnson Mel Dunston	2 episodes
1994 to 1999	Law & Order	Dr. Henry "Papa Doc" Doirnell Judge	2 episodes
1995	Are You Afraid of the Dark?	Cap Anderson	Episode: "The Tale of Train Magic"
1995	Die Hard with a Vengeance	Janitor	Credited as Ray Arahna
1995	Dead Man Walking	Luis Montoya
1996	City Hall	James Bone
1996	Box of Moon Light	Soapy
1996	Twisted	Can Man
1997	The Kid	Cappy Dover
1997	Deconstructing Harry	Professor Aranha
1998	Cosby	James	Episode: "Chemistry"
2000	Third Watch	Barnett Freeman	Episode: "Journey to the Himalayas"
2001	Good Advice	Man in Central Park
2001	Ed	Harry Lockemather	2 episodes
2002	Maid in Manhattan	Bus driver

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Ingvar Wixell, Swedish opera singer, died he was 80.

Ingvar Wixell  was a Swedish baritone who had an active international career in operas and concerts from 1955 to 2003. He mostly sang roles from the Italian repertory, and, according to The New York Times, "was best known for his steady-toned, riveting portrayals of the major baritone roles of Giuseppe Verdi — among them Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro in Aida and Germont in La Traviata.^[1]


(May 7, 1931 – October 8, 2011)

Life and career

Ingvar Wixell was born in Luleå in 1931. He made his debut in 1955 as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm where he was member of the company until 1967.^[2]
He made his British debut during the Royal Swedish Opera's visit to Covent Garden in 1960, and sang Guglielmo at Glyndebourne and at the Proms in 1962. For the Royal Opera, London he sang Boccanegra in 1972. In America he appeared at San Francisco Opera (Belcore, 1972) and the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto, 1973).^[2]
He was engaged at the Deutsche Oper Berlin 1967 where he was a member for more than 30 years.^[3] At Bayreuth he sang the Herald in Lohengrin (1971).
Among other roles, Wixell sang Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen, Amonasro in Verdi's Aida, Baron Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, and the title roles in Verdi's Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Verdi's Falstaff and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin.
Wixell performed all the songs in the competition to select Sweden's Eurovision Song Contest 1965 entry. The winning song was "Annorstädes Vals" (Elsewhere Waltz), which Wixell went on to perform at the international final in Naples. In a break from the then prevailing tradition, the song was sung in English (as "Absent Friend"). This led to the introduction from 1966 onwards of a rule stipulating that each country's entry must be sung in one of the languages of that country. (This rule was cancelled for the years 1973 to 1977, reinstated in 1978, and cancelled again in 1999.)
Wixell ended his career in 2003 by singing the Music teacher in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at Malmö Opera.
Wixell died on October 8, 2011,^[4] aged 80.

Selected recordings

• Mozart, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Sir Colin Davis, 1971, with Jessye Norman
• Larsson, Förklädd gud, conducted by Stig Westerberg, 1968–1974
• Mozart, Don Giovanni, conducted by Colin Davis, 1973
• Verdi, Cavaliere di Belfiore in Un giorno di regno, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli, 1973
• Puccini, Baron Scarpia in Tosca, conducted by Colin Davis, 1976, with Montserrat Caballé
• Verdi, Count di Luna in Il trovatore, conducted by Richard Bonynge, 1976, with Dame Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne
• Donizetti, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore, conducted by Sir John Pritchard, 1977, with Plácido Domingo
• Donizetti, Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia, conducted by Richard Bonynge, 1977
• Leoncavallo, Tonio in Pagliacci, conducted by Giuseppe Patanè, 1977, with Mirella Freni
• Puccini, Michele in Il tabarro, conducted by Lorin Maazel, with Renata Scotto, 1977
• Puccini, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, conducted by Lorin Maazel, 1978, with Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Gillian Knight
• Verdi, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Colin Davis, 1978–1979, with José Carreras
• Puccini, Marcello in La bohème, conducted by Colin Davis, 1979, with Katia Ricciarelli
• Verdi, Rigoletto in Rigoletto, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, 1983, with Edita Gruberová and Luciano Pavarotti, a film directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
• Puccini, Baron Scarpia in Tosca, conducted by Daniel Oren, 1990, with Raina Kabaivanska
• Svenska ballader (Swedish ballads), by August Söderman, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Wilhelm Stenhammar and Ture Rangström, conducted by Johan Arnell, 1997

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